3 ways to use your loyalty program to boost the performance of post-purchase emails

According to research from RetailWire, 88 percent of consumers feel they receive too many emails from retail brands, and that those emails hit their inboxes too frequently. But don’t despair, because data also shows that email generates around £29 billion retail sales annually.

Email has the highest ROI of any marketing channel, delivering a return of 42:1 for every dollar invested. To maintain that effectiveness as email fatigue starts to hit the average consumer, retailers need to work harder to deliver highly relevant, personalised emails.

Because they so often relate to individual products and purchases that are still very top of mind for consumers, post-purchase emails provide the perfect opportunity for personalisation. Not only can you use the data from their transaction, but you can also take big steps towards securing their repeat custom. The likelihood of a one-time customer returning to make a second purchase is 22%. However once they’ve purchased twice there’s a 43% chance that they’ll return to buy a third time. Boosting the performance of post-purchase emails is therefore key to ensuring you stick in a customers mind longer-term.

Demonstrate the brand values you share

The way consumers make their purchasing decisions is changing over time. Shoppers today want their purchases to make them feel good, and 60% of millennials gravitate towards purchases that are an expression of their personality and meet an emotional need. Essentially they want to shop with brands that share their values, whether that’s veganism, zero waste or fair trade, to name a few.

Your customers want to feel confident that they are buying from brands that place importance in the same views, and who demonstrate authenticity in standing by them in practice.

Ensuring that your post-purchase emails incorporate reminders of those shared values can be extremely effective in cementing a longer-term relationship with recent buyers. Use this opportunity to highlight to customers how or why your products, operations or delivery processes align with those values. For example, health and wellness brand 100% Pure use their emails to remind customers that their products are natural and cruelty-free – things that are very important to their community of purists shoppers.

After making a purchase, customers already know and have a level of trust in your brand. Take this opportunity to add an additional layer of authenticity that will make them want to come and buy from you again in the future.

Recognise customers as individuals strate the brand values you share

According to DMA research, segmented and targeted emails generate a whopping 58% of all revenue. Post-purchase emails are unique to each and every individual because they relate to the purchase they just made. However, you can take this personalisation one step further by inserting loyalty data and insights.

Use these emails to incorporate information such as how many points a member has earned (or indeed a non-member could have earned) from the purchase. Or, let them know exactly how much more they need to add to their points balance before they can claim their next reward. If you have a loyalty program with tiers, you could even remind them what tier they are in and what benefits they have as a result, or let them know how far off the next tier they are and remind them what they could unlock if and when they reach it.

Not only does this help you to ensure that customers know that you are thinking of them and considering them as individuals, but it also helps you to entice customers to return and engage with your brand again in order to unlock more points and rewards.

Think past the initial post-purchase email

We tend to think of ‘post-purchase’ as the very initial activity following a customer’s purchase. However if we look a little further down the line, then the chances are that we’ll start to see some customers becoming ‘at-risk’. This means that they haven’t returned to make another purchase within an expected timeframe. This timeframe will of course differ according to the products you sell, but given that it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, focusing on an ‘at-risk’ segment can be very cost-effective.

Use your emails to re-engage at-risk customers by surprising and delighting them with unexpected actions. For example, offering them double points on the next purchase they make, or crediting them with additional points that tip them over the threshold needed to unlock a reward. You might even move them up a tier in your program so that they can access additional benefits such as early access to new products or free delivery, enticing them to come back and shop with you again.

It often pays to be generous with your loyalty program, and never more so than when a customer has moved into your at-risk segment and needs to be won back.

Highly personalised post-purchase emails are an effective tool in any merchant’s arsenal, helping you find new opportunities to drive repeat purchase and retention. With LoyaltyLion and CM Commerce’s new integration, you can effortlessly incorporate loyalty information into ecommerce emails that encourage customers to return and shop again, sooner.

About LoyaltyLion

LoyaltyLion is a data-driven loyalty and engagement software for fast-growth ecommerce merchants. Thousands of retailers worldwide use LoyaltyLion to add their own fully customisable loyalty programs and increase customer engagement, retention and spend.  Stores using LoyaltyLion typically generate at least $15 for every $1 they spend on the platform.